Dr. Mohamed Ali Elgari, Prof. Ashraf Md Hashim and Dr. Rashid Raashed – three well-known Shariah scholars sit on our Shariah Committee. For further information on our scholars please click here or visit the Shariah Committee page on our website. 

Instead of interest we pay profit share on our savings accounts. The general concept is that when you make a deposit, we quote you an expected profit rate. We then use your funds for Shariah compliant income-producing activities, such as home finance, and share a percentage of returns we earn with you.

We guarantee returning your actual deposit amount, but the return you earn is not fixed - it's based on the profits we generate, therefore your actual profit rate may fluctuate according to our return on investment however we will endeavour to keep the profit rate stable over time.

Our products are Shariah compliant and endorsed by our Shariah Committee.

As part of our Everyday Account product, Islamic Bank Australia will offer Visa Debit, which will allow you to ''tap and pay'', i.e., be able to use your watch and/or phone to pay.

We currently do not have any plans to offer credit cards. We however are going to continue to innovate with our products provided they are Shariah compliant and provide you with an update if we offer any substitute products to credit cards.

At Islamic Bank Australia we will be bringing truly Shariah compliant banking products. One of the requirements of Shariah compliant financing is to not have Gharar (uncertainty), and as such Islamic Bank Australia will have no hidden fees and costs. All fees or costs will be disclosed upfront prior to signing the documents.

Of course, you can ask us about these at any time - we're here to help.

The borrowing capacity varies from person to person. Once we publicly launch, we will make a finance calculator available on our website that can help assess your financing limit.  We'll be calculating repayment capacity in a similar way to the other Australian banks, so you can expect we would allow you to finance similar amounts.

Once we publicly launch, we will make our financing application available that can be used to make an application. In the meantime, you can register your name on our waiting list by filling the quick registration form on our website.

No, at this stage we do not offer finance for construction purposes, however we have plans in the future to offer finance for construction purposes.

Once we launch, we will make our document checklist available. However, like any other bank our banking products will be regulated by the Australian government therefore we will require standard documentation that meets our credit criteria.

We are aiming to be quite quick!  When we launch home finance, we will be aiming to make approvals available within a few business days of the receipt of a completed application and supporting documents.  Sometimes we need to do a physical valuation of the properties involved, so it might take a little longer.

Once we publicly launch, on our website you will be able to calculate your monthly instalments and have access to generating a Key Facts Sheet (KFS) for any of our standard home financing products. The KFS will help you choose the right home financing.  It is a summary of the financing you are looking at, including a personalised comparison rate and an estimation of the costs of your home finance. 

Watch this space - our monthly instalments calculator is coming soon.  We don't call it a repayments calculator as you're not borrowing from us.

Initially, the Islamic Bank Australia plans to provide financing of up to 80% Finance to Value Ratio (FVR). This means, you will need to have a deposit of 20% of the value of the financing saved. We plan to introduce higher FVR finance in the future. 

Yes, once Islamic Bank Australia publicly launches its products, you will be able to refinance your property from an existing lender to us.

We calculate our rate considering the cost of funds and our profit margin. It's a little bit different for savings products vs home finance.

For home finance, we calculate a rental rate which covers our costs as well as profit margin.  You'll see this quoted in the finance contract and on our website.

For deposits, we pay a share of the profits that we generate with your deposit funds, so it can actually go up or down based on the returns we generate.  We'll quote an "expected profit rate" which is a guide to the amount of profit share that we are targeting to return on your account.

Yes, we will offer both variable and fixed rates. You'll be able to see all the options once we launch and make our rates available on our website.

Due to some of the stamp duty challenges around Australia, you (the customer) will have your name on title from day 1.  We will take a mortgage over the property.  As well as the legally-binding agreement we have with you where you are on the title as the owner, we also sign a non-legally-binding Shariah Agreement with you where we agree together that the product is actually an Ijarah where you will own the property at the end of the finance term (e.g. 30 years).  This is a "moral" agreement between us in the spirit of Shariah compliance.

We have to do it this way as some states around Australia would double-charge stamp duty - once when the bank bought the property from the seller, and once when we sold it to you.

We don't have interest included in our contracts. 

Our rates will change as it is based on our cost of funds and return on Shariah compliant investing activities. However, we will endeavour to honour the rates that we have provided you and ensure that there aren't too many fluctuations or variations.

Interest-free does not mean cost free. Under Shariah laws Islamic Bank Australia can recover costs incurred in any business transaction provided those costs are fair and not over inflated.

The costs involved are determined for each product and certified by our internal Shariah Committee.  There will be some fees for home finance products, as well as rental charges.

Yes, we will process the FHOG grant for you.  You may need to provide us with additional identification documentation if you are applying for a FHOG grant.

Yes, rental rates can be variable.

Not yet - but it's coming soon.  We're working on it and we will launch it as soon as possible once we're open for business.

No!  We're aiming to be competitive with other conventional lenders.  We are of the view that Shariah compliant products should not be more expensive than those offered by conventional banks.

We'll aim to be as competitive as we can!

A percentage is simply a mathematical expression. A profit on sale can be expressed as a percentage.  Rental rates are often quoted as Islamic banks as a percentage - that doesn't make them interest!  The key thing is that the bank is owning the property from a Shariah perspective, and therefore rent is being charged (as opposed to the customer borrowing funds, buying the house and then making interest and loan repayments).

We would love to chat to you if you are classed as a sophisticated investor and would like to invest in Islamic Bank Australia. Please click here for more information.